Chapter 1: Prologue

Update on the Ember Core. It is currently the 7th month of year 759 of the dwarven calendar. The current time is 12:42 AM 

"…The Ember core as my team has taken to call it; was found offsite, West of Penny… Hmm Penny, I would like to go back there one of these days, beautiful city it is. Right, the core. The core was discovered underground on a potential new dig site. It was originally meant for future mining, the higher ups were hoping to get their hands on some more red iron, but what they found instead was a shiny glass ball.

The ball- excuse me the core, appears to be made of some kind of crystal with multiple cracks inside that look like the whole thing broke at one point but was sealed back up using gold as adhesive."

A man quickly interrupted, "What does this have to do with anything? Why did you call me here? I thought you wanted help to research something. Is this… core special?" 

This man just outside of being called middle age was no doubt a human, and a scholar at that. He was wearing an overcoat all in white, with round gold frame glasses looking tired as he was standing in this now empty classroom at Steel University.

This man was a famous professor of this great dwarven kingdom, one of many dwarven kingdoms on this continent but definitely one of the strongest.

The dwarf didn't seem to care about the man's bored and tired behavior. Dwarves have never been known for etiquette but this one especially seemed more excited than most, "Harold, I know this is odd but hear me out."

With a sigh, "Alright. Ramble away old man, I'm mostly just upset that you called me so late at this hour. I have students to babysit tomorrow and so do you." 

Professor Haroldson, an esteemed scholar in his original homelands, was now a professor at Steel University. After years of working in his own country filled with corrupt, so-called 'Noble Men' taking credit for his work for years Harold finally decided to leave after light convincing from an old friend. 

Being here could only be considered a blessing. Harold had traveled for many years looking for ancient ruins but his main profession was magic artifacts. If it weren't for the fact that he had made some great discoveries in the past he might not be working here today but luckily he knew a loud obnoxious old dwarf to refer him to the job.

"Who are you calling old? I'm not even 150! You fart every time you walk! I'm surprised you haven't shat yourself!" The dwarf scoffed at the man, clearly they were on good terms and had known each other for a long time.

"That's what diapers are for."

For the first time the dwarf looked away from his paperwork and looked in shock. 

"Maybe I should try it sometime…" 

"Maybe you should, you stink. Alright enough joking, show me this shiny ball you have."

"It's a core, not a ball! But yeah let's move on, give me a moment I put it in my office." With that the dwarf walked away.

Harold sat down to wait, he knew this would take a while. Robert has always had a bad habit of misplacing things, "Rob hurry it up, I have places to be… My bed being one of them."

"Hmph, old man"

Robert Madding was the dwarf, and the two met years ago on a hike with a group of tourists. They were both on a trip to see an old ruin and now a tourist attraction littered with trash. The two hit it off immediately after hearing each other throw curses and swear words at the disrespectful tourist. To them it sounded like they were both speaking profound art and poetry. To others… They had to cover their children's ears. They of course quickly became brothers.

Occasionally swapping stories, bragging about new discoveries they had made over the years and then bursting each other's bubbles by making things sound more underwhelming than what they really were. Despite that Robert had once discovered the existence of an old ancient elven city on a now deserted island, it was he who discovered why and how they were all wiped out. In his ambition and young naivety at the time he was quite open at the fact that he had discovered that the island residents were wiped out by ancient dwarves using a toxic and violent poison in their wells and then engraving these words like they were an autograph on the castle walls. 

Fortunately, he told his colleagues that they were dark elves before catastrophe could occur. If the high elven council found out that it was lower elves, gods forbid high elves. Peace treaty be damned, a war would be inevitable and this time what little of them left may very well be gone for good. 

Haroldson sat on Robert's nice chair and decided to just yell into the other room so Robert could hear him. "So did you call me because you think this orb holds magic?!" Why would a dwarf ever mind yelling across the room? Of course he wouldn't, "My team was unable to detect any magic coming off of this thing, however they did find something peculiar! The ball- shit."

Haroldson couldn't help but laugh at that last, albeit quieter swear at the end. No doubt enjoying the conversation. 

With that Robert continued, "The CORE was found in a strange situation, it was located 6 feet underground surrounded by red iron." 

Through pure luck alone Robbert was actually able to find his super valuable ancient artifact within minutes! That never happens, which must mean this thing is the real deal.

Ignoring his obvious shock at how quickly that took and now face to face he became serious. 

"That is odd, it was buried that deep surrounded by red iron? A strong magical metal at that? It should've been detected years ago… Wait, why didn't anybody sense this? After a certain amount of mana is gathered in an area even an E rank super should be able to sense this."

"Ah you see? That's the big question, but before that let's get to the juicy part!" When a dwarf gets excited it usually includes a little bit of spittle.

After wiping his face now covered in spit Harold was beginning to regret sitting in robs chair.

After getting up with a sigh, he curiously asked "Ok, and?"

Robert looks at him and says, "AND the red iron was in a perfect circle!" Harold looks down at the dwarf and says, "Holy shit."

Clearly not understanding the sarcasm he continues, "But more specifically… in a perfect sphere. Hence the name, 'core of ember.' Yeah I wasn't a big fan of the name either but the crew seemed to like it and now its name pops up on the appraisal stone. So there's that."

"Wait what?! You used an appraisal stone?! That must've cost a fortune!" 

Obviously shocked at his friend's wealth. After all, everyone knows how expensive an appraisal stone is, but to rent it on a weird ball is questionable. Harold always knew Rob was crazy but maybe he needs a reevaluation. Or maybe not? No, he definitely needs an evaluation. 

"That's not what matters! Don't you see?! This thing stood within perfect distance from each side in every direction! Right there perfectly center! And get this, the entire area was filled with normal iron! Don't you see?! The core was making red iron! The core can create magic metal! Imagine the applications?!" Rob for the first time in a long time was bursting in joy and wonder. It was clear with every word he spoke.

"I invited you because I know, and you know, that the only person who can figure this out is us." Rob kept pausing on and off trying to either emphasize how important this was or to flatter me. Either way I agreed with both possibilities.

"Alright, first off… what else did the appraisal stone say?" 

"Here's the note I got back." With that they gave me a small note that just said 'core of ember.' 

"What? This? This is it? How much did you pay for? Which appraisal stone did you request?" 

"Uhhh well I spent about 2 red gold coins on the royal stone." For the first time in Harold's life he has seen an idiot in his natural habitat.

For a bit of an explanation, red gold is the most valuable gold in the known world. Reason being is simple, red gold is the solidified tears of none other than the gods that walk in our vast world. I've heard there are only three kingdoms in total that can get their hands on a decent amount a year and only one that has a steady stream of it. Unfortunately none of them reside on our continent.

A single red gold coin is worth enough to feed a small town of 80k for a year. Two red gold coins and you can just create your own colony. Imagine what you can do with 10.

As for the appraisal stone, that one is an even rarer commodity. Appraisal stones are incredibly fragile and they are never moved once placed in their designated spot. Some nations even avoid attacking these places for fear of destroying one. As its value is worth that much. 

Appraisal stones have one main purpose. To appraise any person, animal or object placed on it. The larger the size the more it can appraise. 

"Well that was a waste of money but wait, that's not right. How could the name be the only thing to be revealed? Even more than that, but it was changed to the name given by your team?" 

The appraisal stones hold great mysteries and over the years, much has been discovered. For example, if somebody creates a one of a kind technology then the name will not be revealed nor its purpose. The only way to change this is either to name it and figure out its properties and everything it can do or to make something up. We know this because an ancient inventor once created a random object he made out of clay and sticks. He made sure to record the process step by step and realized this discovery. His invention, although underwhelming and silly, it was called the thingy ma bobber. Its purpose, according to him, was for throwing at people. The only reason Harold knows this is because he teaches this in his classes.

"So this can only mean one thing, it's made by somebody who never named it, didn't know what it did and made it out of some kind of unrecognizable materials," Harold looked shocked that nobody would ever name such a thing, much less take credit for it. "But wait, if this is true, why didn't the stone say that it could create magic metals? Unless… That's not what it really does?"

That's right, despite the appraisal stone's incredible properties, its most important ability, is to only record the truth. It is because of this ability that many cultures believe that the stone has a creator, and a verifier. Something or someone who knows the truth of the world. Some cultures like to say they know the truth, some say it's a cosmic god, others say it's the universe itself.

"So you want me to help you figure it out… Alright let's do this." It's been a long time since Harold has been so excited, "How many people know about this?"

"Regrettably quite a few know. I wasn't there at the time of discovery, finding metal deposits for war isn't really my thing. This discovery is due to one of my old students. He gave this to me hoping I would enjoy it, I guess he didn't see the worth in it." 

"Besides him, I would say… his whole crew. The guy I had to pay to use the appraisal stone, my wife… and it's also been recorded by the imperial scribe. So everyone." Tonight is filled with emotions for this old dwarf.

"Alright then let's not disappoint them then. Let's get to it."

"I was hoping you would say that."